It was a path he was hoping to avoid heading into the 2012 regular season. Torell Troup worked extraordinarily hard to be fully recovered from back surgery in six months. He was determined to participate in training camp with his teammates and resume a career that had been derailed by injury. Unfortunately Troup’s back wasn’t ready to cooperate.

“My back would not allow me to be ready,” Troup told Buffalobills.com.

Troup’s troublesome back, which made getting down in a three-point stance a trial in and of itself, was not ready to accept that his physical condition was not going to make playing football possible. He suited up for practice almost every day last summer at St. John Fisher and participated in practice on a limited basis.

His movement was labored and stiff. He could only go half speed. Anyone watching Troup trudge through practice in his condition knew playing in September was very unlikely.

“I think people felt more sorry for me than I actually felt for myself,” Troup said. “They expected me to go out and give a great effort so that’s what I did every day. I didn’t think about the pain. When I got out there my body limited me on doing certain things, but when I was out there I was trying to give 100 percent as much as I could. I just took it one day at a time and decided I would give my best effort whatever that was.”